No sound when exporting iMovie project in HD (missing AAC codec)

[Poemmser]

Hi there everyone!

I am facing a problem when trying to export a finished project from iMovie as an HD video, it has no sound!

Here's the scenario:

MacBook Pro (Mid 2010), OS X El Capitan 10.11.2, around 90GB free space on the hard-drive, iMovie '09 (Version8.0.6)

The project is finished in iMovie, ready for publishing in HD, when I preview it there, no issues with the sound. However, as soon as I try to export it and select HD as the output quality, the .mov file will open without playing any sound in Quicktime. If I select the lower quality "large" it gives me an .m4v file with sound. Even when I select "export with quicktime" and manually select the audio options there (256 Kbps AAC) the final version will not have any sound.

A few months ago I worked on another project, also exported it in HD. When I check the file info of the earlier exported project vis-à-vis that of the current one, it will say "Codec: H.264, AAC" with dimensions "1280x720", when I export the current one it is missing the AAC whilst having the same dimensions.

I am really no expert on such questions, but I have tried to look for option in iMovie, no luck. Maybe somebody has encountered a similar problem or knows why this does not work. I would greatly appreciate any help.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Dave Braine]

There are a few issues with earlier versions of iMovie and El Capitan, which is why I'm staying with Yosemite. This could well be one of them.

 

[Edgar L. Owen]

Hi there everyone!

I am facing a problem when trying to export a finished project from iMovie as an HD video, it has no sound!

Here's the scenario:

MacBook Pro (Mid 2010), OS X El Capitan 10.11.2, around 90GB free space on the hard-drive, iMovie '09 (Version8.0.6)

The project is finished in iMovie, ready for publishing in HD, when I preview it there, no issues with the sound. However, as soon as I try to export it and select HD as the output quality, the .mov file will open without playing any sound in Quicktime. If I select the lower quality "large" it gives me an .m4v file with sound. Even when I select "export with quicktime" and manually select the audio options there (256 Kbps AAC) the final version will not have any sound.

A few months ago I worked on another project, also exported it in HD. When I check the file info of the earlier exported project vis-à-vis that of the current one, it will say "Codec: H.264, AAC" with dimensions "1280x720", when I export the current one it is missing the AAC whilst having the same dimensions.

I am really no expert on such questions, but I have tried to look for option in iMovie, no luck. Maybe somebody has encountered a similar problem or knows why this does not work. I would greatly appreciate any help.

Thanks in advance!!

[doublepost=1510587685][/doublepost]Dear Poemmser,

There is a simple fix for this. In the project window double click on the clip that doesn't export sound to open its inspector window. Select audio and check 'Revert to original'.

Now export in HD again and it should be fixed. File info should show the proper AAC codec.

This worked for me in iMovie 9. I first tried clicking Normalize clip volume, and then denormalized it but I doubt you need to do this.

You can view the results in my YouTube Deep Reality talks by searching YouTube on Edgar L. Owen

Hope it works for you too. I spent days trying to solve this problem but never found this fix mentioned anywhere. Just tried everything & this worked!

Best,
Edgar L. Owen

 

[Dave Braine]

As it was nearly two years ago, I guess he may have solved it by now.

 

[ZenMonkeyJohn]

[doublepost=1510587685][/doublepost]Dear Poemmser,

There is a simple fix for this. In the project window double click on the clip that doesn't export sound to open its inspector window. Select audio and check 'Revert to original'.

Now export in HD again and it should be fixed. File info should show the proper AAC codec.

This worked for me in iMovie 9. I first tried clicking Normalize clip volume, and then denormalized it but I doubt you need to do this.

You can view the results in my YouTube Deep Reality talks by searching YouTube on Edgar L. Owen

Hope it works for you too. I spent days trying to solve this problem but never found this fix mentioned anywhere. Just tried everything & this worked!

Best,
Edgar L. Owen

Thank you so much, Edgar!

This has saved me a LOT of continued frustration!

 

[mcoltezo]

I'm having the same trouble. I can't export in HD and get the sound. It worked with one video after several tries, but now it won't work with my new 6" video. I have a mid-2009 MBP running El Capitan and iMovie 09. I have read that El C. and iMovie don't play nice in the laptop. :-(

I tried the "change the audio to ...low ACC" suggestion I found on another website forum which worked that one time but not now. Also, I see the suggestion to "revert to original" above but I don't want to do that as I have increased my volume in my clips....and it's many clips not just one.

Does anyone have any suggestions or am I doomed to export in a lower quality to get the sound?

I am also in the process of researching getting a newer machine but in the meanwhile.... this video needs to get posted!

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Take2Mac]

+1 thank you 👍 to Edgar L. Owen on this. It's now November 2020.

I updated my 2010 iMac 21.5in to MacOS 10.11.6 El Capitan over a year ago - been unable to export from iMovie 09 (8.0.6) at HD with audio ever since - but now with this trick it exports with audio!

Just a note on workflow - I use other applications to produce the video - ffmpeg, my DAW with video cueing, etc. Then just open in iMovie to add titling and fades for the final encode - so single movie clip per project. The "revert to original" trick for audio in HD export certainly works for that scenario